Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1887-06-15

stateA % recently successful In throwing OIL
one denomination, should hsve consented, |
under any persuasion, TO ~ supreme an act |
Of selsabuegation as the surrender OF the
highest prerogatives of sovereignty. Ii was
q marvel that after such union had been |
formed upon the basis OF written rons,itn
tion OF local jealousies and sectional animosi |
ties, had not been speedily construed by |
time-serving Judges into a meaningless form
OF words, without subsistence, without vital. |
ity, without authority. We owe the success.
fui Inauguration OF such n government |
chiefly to the inil uence OF the great character |
OF George Washington We owe the estab
lishment OF the nstioual constitution in the
full force and efficacy of its real meaning,
and In the plenitude Of its grand design, t.
the Judicial hrmness, the intelle ectuai courage,
the sterling virtue and the strong character
OF John Marshall.
The paramount aim having been to estah- |
lish . government that should combine in |
permanent and peaceful uuion the states aud |
peoples OF continent, l come to ask, did Its |
founders succeed In 80 difficult and ambt- |
tious an object for 1t we're idle tn pronounce |
their eulogy II they failed? The inquiry at
once brings into contem plation the sectional
war, which for time desolsted the land, and
during which We drank so deeply Of the cup
OF European experiences Does that deplor.
able occurrence discredit the statesm an ship
Of l7s9, and prove the government then
formed to have failed in Its primary purpose?
i approach the inquiry without dismsy.
/ For any vices which the mon OF liSa may
/ themselves have inc ,rporsted into the ma.
Honal organization, they are responsible to
/ history but neither are they, nor ia their
system, accountable for vices, whether
patent or latent, which inhered in the organ.
/ isms OF the states They possessed only
delegated powers, They were at liberty
neither to reject nor reform the material OF
which they were to build. 1t was essential
that every one OF the thirteen states then oc-
| cupying the territory which had been
wrested from the mother country should be
brought into the System To have discarded
single state, much more half OF them,
would have been, by that fact, to have planted
discord and rivalry as perennial growths in
the land. They were under the necessity OF
/ bringing In every existing state aud, hav-
ing no commission to reform, of admitting
each with whatever vice or inpertection
might belong to it
CAUSE OF SECTIONAL CONFLICT.
| 1t is a fact OF universal recognition that
| slavery was the cause and the subject oi the
| sectional conflict OF 1861 D. But the tnstitu.
ton hsd grown to maturity before the trainers
OF the constitution OF lis? undertook their
task. lneraiicable by voluntary and peace
iul means, inexterminsble by any device or
contrivauce within their own invention, those
| men could do no otherwise than to build not
| withstandiDg and over 1t, and while deplor-
| ing Its existence, to leave to time and events
the wo.k or the accident OF its extinction.
The time did come for the extinction OF
| slavery and though the event occurred ss
II
| yet that conflict grew out Of the existence OF
vice inhering in the organisms OF the
| states aud not originating In, belonging to
| or more inferentially and regretfully re-.
| ferred to in the constitution formed by the
craftsmanship Of l1s9. Aud may | not claim
/ that the harmony of sections which was so
| speedily restored after lS,J. and Is not
! soon to he disturbed, aud which the country
| has since enjoyed, has rescued that states
| mauship from the brief eclipse which 1t sui.
| fered, aud constitutes even IN ore triumphant
| vindication than II the eclipse had not oc.
| CURED.
| Have we not a right also to conclude that
| the fraterniZizng influence which the ma
/ tional government had eNerted before the
outbreak OF war had much Ia do III temper
/ ing the spirit with which it was conducted
| by both the comb s,ants Those wars only are
| attended with irrenediahle evil, which have
| their instigation in the hatred OF comoatsnts
| for each other. Was there an Oil ,er or intel.
ligent soldier in either OF the arinie en- gagged
| who in hatred and malice, thitsted for the
| blood OF his adversary Do tax the gensr.
| osity OF my audience unduly when l assert
/ that the sentiments OF the combatants on
| both sides of that conflict were thoroughly
patriotic? Not in the spirit OF apology or
crimination, but in illustration ot the motive
| which actuated those who fought In opposition
| to Pennsylvania, l recur to historical circun
| stances. Encumbered a. they were with an
| institution harmful to themselves alone,
| which had bern thrust upon their ancestors
| against unremitting protest; which had been
/ augmented tl6 Colonial
| by the persistent agency Of exterior govern
| ments and classes, nssns s!ble to rempnstrance:
| and which had finally grown into proper
| tions that rendered. any external interference
| with 1t haZ ardous to society how could their
| effort tn resist such Interference bs fairly as
| cribed to any othsr motive than an earnest
| patriotism Would the world have re-
spected our Southern soldiers, could they
| have respected them selves, il they had not
resisted invasion with the resolution of pa
triots, and defended their homes aud fire
sides with the bravery OF American fathers,
/ brother ond sons?
The wrongfulness OF slavery may he con
ceded /: but this We know, tina. the supposed
victims OF the institution were the only class
in the community where it was, who prof ted
| by its maintenance. From fetch wOrshiping
| savages, they became qualified for the high
franchises OF American citizenship. How my
| own psople dealt with this institution, bore
| themselv yes towards it, aud suffered aud are
still suffering from IL, Is tor the judgment OF
history, TO which we confidently aud proud.
ly appeal. For the purposes of the present
| occasion, this only need IN Aintsin, that those
| who apparently fought for its continuance,
were actusted by no ms,ics toward their al.
versaries. and solely by the promptinss of
Q devoted patriotism.
The war accomplished its object. Slavery
was overthrown and compensation tor the
sorrows and desolations OF the conflict,
its overthrow. Aud though fratricldsl, it
| has left even In the cup OF the ssddest
mourner, none OF the dregs OF hatred and
malice. A grievous national evil has been
uprooted; great national benefaction
achieved aud the consolatary truth recorded
anew, that from the conflicts OF patriots ever
comes good to the republic.
Was ever civil war followed by more cor.
dial reconciliation Was ever intsrnecin ,
strife succeeded by fewer snimositiss? And
| to what Is the resto red peace OF sections, so
complete, more largely due, than to the pa
| cihc influence whcl the great institutions
/ founded in 1883 hal exerted before the Oc-
currence OF the conflict, and have continued
| TO exert, with rsdoubled potency, at every
| moment since its termination
have disdained to consider the power OF
the national government to crush ou. dissen.
| sion which It has In common with Russia,
| Prussia and Great Britain. Its right and
| tenure OF existence rest solely upon its ca.
| pacity 70 fraternizs the millions of freemen
| who own its allegiance, upon the Catholic
| basis OF moderated liberty, Impartial Justice,
| aud equal laws provided by the men OF 'S9.
The lame OF John Marshall rests upon the
| part he had in establishing and soidiiyiny
| the government which has been the subject OF
| my inadequate laudations His best me.
mortal Is that constitution TO which he gave
| power and authority wherever the ter
| ritOry OF the United States extends, and the
| stars and stripes Ot America float From
| the convention OF 1883 he recsived paTch-
ment and he made 1t the supreme law of
states, the crucial law OF laws, and stand ard
| OF American legislation. The architects OF